Six Original Short-Form Comedy Series Hit the C-Spot, New Multiplatform Comedy Channel
Available on Sony Pictures' Crackle and Other Online and Mobile Partners
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, The Roadents, Gaytown, The Writers Room, Hot, Hot Los Angeles and Best of Penn Says Debut
PRNewswire-FirstCall
CULVER CITY, Calif.
03/31/2008
Six innovative, original short-form comedy series are now available on C-Spot, a new ad- supported, multiplatform comedy channel distributed by Sony Pictures Television. C-Spot features high-quality programming with continuing storylines, specifically produced for the web and mobile and programmed 52- weeks a year. The new channel is available on Crackle.com (www.crackle.com/cspot), YouTube (www.youtube.com/cspot), AOL Video (http://video.aol.com/), Hulu, Verizon Wireless' V CAST Video service, and direct to Sony BRAVIA TVs via BRAVIA Internet Video Link.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/LAM083)
"We've tapped very talented individuals, both established and up-and- coming, to create a spectrum of original web series that showcase irreverent characters and stories," said Sean Carey, senior executive vice president, Sony Pictures Television. "By updating the content daily, we're looking to engage, entertain and continue to feed the appetite of digital media users seeking more than just one-off viral videos."
The series showcased on C-Spot run the gamut from existing popular shows like Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, which amassed over two million views with their first two episodes that launched in 2007, to The Roadents, a new series taking a vanguard approach to flash-animation and developed by Bix Pix Entertainment, the creative team whose work has been featured on Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse. Owen Benjamin, one of the top 10 comedians on MySpace who appears in the upcoming feature film, "The House Bunny," opposite Anna Farris and Colin Hanks and also headlines his own Comedy Central special later this year, stars in the new series Gaytown; while The Writers Room has Kevin Pollak as the domineering host of a late-night talk show.
In its first 13-week season, C-Spot will feature the following six series with new episodes premiering every week on their respective day:
-- Mondays get steamy in Hot, Hot Los Angeles, a sardonic take-off of soapy teen dramas and shows that glamorize the excesses of the rich and not so famous. Hot, Hot Los Angeles is a new scripted series that follows the scandalous lives of two of the most popular guys in town, Pip (Scott Speiser) and Victor (Randy Wayne). The frenemies battle for supremacy and the hearts of the same girls, all while overindulging in the best L.A. has to offer. In a celebrity obsessed city where money is power, beauty is godliness and the privileged elite live fast and die young, lives are spiraling out of control in Hot, Hot Los Angeles. The web series also stars Olivia Hardt, Kodi Kitchen, Christian Monzon, Alyshia Ochse, Marnie Alton and Spencer Hall. Hot, Hot Los Angeles was created and is executive produced by Andrew Schwartz and Bennett Baker Barbakow, and is produced by Test Pattern Media. -- Tuesdays will introduce new shorts of the single camera comedy, The Writers Room, which takes a satirical look at the inner workings of a late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Kevin Pollak. With long hours and cramped quarters acting as the glue that holds this dysfunctional group together, The Writers Room explores the ludicrous situations and conversations that arise when a roomful of neurotic writers work to please their overbearing and tyrannical boss. Bruce Kirschbaum, Ed Crasnick, Evan Mann, Gareth Reynolds, Jeff Kahn, Frank Conniff, Rose Abdoo and Kevin Pollak star in the web series that was created and is executive produced by Mark Feldstein & Brad Roth. The Writers Room is produced by Stun Creative. -- Wednesdays feature new episodes of the web series starring Owen Benjamin as a straight man living in Gaytown, a place where men wear fannypacks and adorn their Yorkies with fancy dog sweaters, and women drive trucks and pour concrete. This weekly comedy series follows Owen's quest to work up the courage to come out of the closet to Pierce (Payman Benz), his fake boyfriend; Lina (Lina Miller), the woman he is secretly in love with; and even his dad, the rhinestone king of Gaytown. Owen Benjamin created, wrote and executive produces Gaytown. The web series is produced by Owen Benjamin, Inc. -- Thursdays feature new episodes of The Roadents. Best described as "The Odd Couple" meets "Easy Rider" for the YouTube generation, The Roadents is a 2D and 3D animated-hybrid, improvisational comedy series centering on two guinea pigs, Pee Pee (voiced by Kevin McShane) and Buttercup (voiced by David Harris), that hit the road in a 1983 Winnebago. Justin Hilden created the web series that is executive produced by Kelli Bixler and produced by Kristofer Updike. The Roadents is produced by Bix Pix Entertainment. -- Fridays bring the highly anticipated return of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show with ten new episodes. One part "Pee Wee's Playhouse" and one part crazy, unpredictable Japanese talk show, Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show is truly the definition of lost in translation. The show's host, Kiko, bewilders and abuses her guests, with the help of her sidekicks Panda and Unicow (a unicorn cow). Kim Evey stars in the series she created and executive produces. Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show is produced by Gorgeous Tiny Productions. -- Additionally, weekends will feature the Best of Penn Says, the most popular entries from Penn Jillette's unscripted web series. Whether he is riffing on the presidential race; reluctantly defending an anti-gay protest as a First Amendment right; or ranting on the latest celebrity trainwreck, Penn Jillette isn't afraid to share his outspoken, unique point-of-view and unwavering opinions on the hottest, most current and sensitive topics. Penn turns the cameras on whenever and wherever inspiration hits him -- maybe backstage at his show in Vegas, in a famous friend's living room, on the road, or wherever else Penn may find himself that day. The immediacy of his posts will allow Penn to tackle events as they happen, and nothing is off-limits. Penn Jillette stars in and produces the series, which is a 10-in-1 Production.
Sony Pictures Television is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, including series, telefilms, theatrical releases and family entertainment for network and cable television, as well as first-run and off-network series for syndication. With more than 25 programs on the air, SPT boasts a program slate that includes the top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off- network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. SPT also owns one-half of cable channel GSN and is a partner in FEARnet, the premier horror/thriller website and VOD service. Sony Pictures Television oversees all of Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) domestic digital distribution efforts across all electronically delivered platforms, including the internet and mobile. Sony Pictures Television, advertiser sales, is one of the premiere national advertising sales companies, handling the commercial inventory in SPT syndicated series as well as in all of SPE's digital businesses in the United States, for Sony BMG and for iN DEMAND's high-definition channel Mojo and the Tennis Channel, and is part owner of national media sales company ITN Networks, Inc. SPT (www.sonypicturestelevision.com) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.
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SOURCE: Sony Pictures Television
CONTACT: Karen Barragan of Sony Pictures Television, +1-310-244-6467,
Karen_Barragan@spe.sony.com
Web Site: http://www.sonypicturestelevision.com/